📜 Where true Love burns Desire is Love’s pure flame; It is the reflex of our earthly frame, That takes its meaning from the nobler part, And but translates the language of the heart. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge This very short but thoughtful poem is our text for today’s poetry-based Lesson (you may have noticed […]
Lesson #204: Considering Coleridge’s poem ‘Desire’ from 3 different perspectives Read More »
In the last part of this lesson (see here), we covered the distinctive traits of the formal and informal registers in the English language. I recommend that you check this Part 1 first before reading this, since what we are going to addressed here builds on what was covered before! Through the help of Kenneth
Another childhood favourite (I seem to be sharing a lot of these lately!) is today’s classic, The Wind in the Willows (1908) by Kenneth Grahame, a Scottish writer at the turn of the twentieth century. His children’s classic is a story about four animals with human characteristics and personalities (a kind of writing called anthropomorphism, when an animal or
I thought it would be nice for a change to take a short text from a classic and analyse it in today’s lesson. So I have the pleasure of re-introducing one of my top favourite novels, North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865), having been inspired today by this biscuit tin which I bought last year when I
Lesson #144: Five Small But Important ‘Fruits’ Gathered From Gaskell’s ‘North And South’ Read More »
In the first part of this lesson (see previous post), we talked about small changes you can introduce in your writing that make a huge difference in how others read and understand it. After all your effort writing something, the last thing you want is for someone to skim or even ignore all you had
I am dedicating today’s lesson to three important points that I often find missing in work that I proofread. These three points might seem obvious or too minute to make a difference, but trust me, they will help to clarify your writing greatly. Clear writing is always the first step towards great writing. … 📝
Is it ‘its’ or ‘it’s’? If you have ever asked yourself that question, you are in the right place! Even if you are uncertain of the answer, know that by asking that question, you show more awareness of the possibility of making a mistake here than many people do – native English speakers included –
If you read the last lesson post (part 1), you may be wondering when and how you should alter typical word order in your English writing to achieve emphasis. THE ‘WHEN’: ✏️ Firstly, you should only rearrange word order when you want to emphasise one point in the sentence over the rest (as shown with
Lesson #136 (Part 2): Using Word Order For Emphasis In Advanced English Read More »
Several years ago we went to a Russian dance performance and bought these very pretty Matryoshka dolls. We have them nicely lined up in order, from the largest to the smallest, in our sitting room. Today I had the thought, ‘What if I line them up in a different order?’ I took a photo of
Lesson #136 (Part 1): Using Word Order For Emphasis In Advanced English Read More »